This revealed that their mindset and expectations about the food altered how their body responded. “Believing you’re eating enough makes your body respond as if it’s had enough,” says Crum.
This is important when it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, because ghrelin influences our metabolism. If we don’t feel full and our metabolism slows down, we won’t burn as much energy. A restraint mindset could therefore be counterproductive for maintaining a healthy weight. “If you’re trying to lose weight and you reduce sugar and fat and caloric intake, but you’re in a restraint mindset, that will keep you from losing as much weight.”
Crum has found similar results when it comes to our own genetic predisposition to feeling full. Individuals who were told they had genes that made them fuller easier produced more of the weight-regulating hormone GLP-1, even if they didn’t have those genes.
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